In Silico Studies on Structural Function of Melanin Concentrating Hormone Receptor 1 Through Docking Approach, Towards Designing Drug for Treating Obesity

Abstract

Melanin concentrating hormone receptor 1 is a G-protein coupled protein receptor expressed in the lateral hypothalamus and zona incerta, part of the nervous system that regulates feeding behavior and energy homeostasis. It is involved in the stimulation of appetite, this was seen when synthetic MCHR1 or MCH was administered to mice and it resulted in induced obesity due to the enhanced feeding. Many researchers have successfully find out the functions of several proteins, using computational approach. It is in this context that in this study the structural function of melanin concentrating hormone receptor 1 through docking studies has been done to make sure that those who are working to address the problem of obesity while trying to discover the effective drugs gain much insight about this receptor. The in silico methods have been used to predict the model of melanin concentrating hormone receptor 1. The template used for model prediction was human delta opioid receptor with the accession number 4N6H. The predicted model has been evaluated and found to be of good quality. Docking was done to investigate the interaction between the ligand; a bifunctional peptide ‘1-oleoyl-r-glycerol’ and the predicted model of melanin concentrating hormone receptor 1 which showed that fourteen residues interacted between the predicted model and ligand. Among interacting residues, it was realized that some of them are involved in sugar metabolism. Thus this study suggests a potential candidate for drug design against cancer and diabetes.

Keywords: obesity, MCHR-1, docking, structural function, 3D structure, phylogenetic analysis, interacting residues